


Zoom Zoom Zoom (Make My Heart Go Boom Boom)

by PadawanRyan



Series: Quarantine 'Verse (aka Close Enough to Reality) [2]
Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Based on an interview, Birthday, COVID-19, Can Be Read as Gen Besides a Select Few Parts, Coronavirus, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Grad Student Problems, M/M, Patrick does not know what Zoom is, Quarantine, Same universe as my previous quarantine fic, Still procrastinating, Zoom (Application) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23877091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PadawanRyan/pseuds/PadawanRyan
Summary: Patrickreallydidn’t get it. “Dude, it’syour birthday.”“Yes, we’ve established that.” Pete was almost starting to feel bad, considering Patrick sounded like he wanted to throttle Pete and todaywassupposed to behisday. “What Idon’tget is why we need to meettodayinstead of letting me, oh, I don’t know,relax?”“And you will, but first we need to get you on Zoom.”
Relationships: Patrick Stump & Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz
Series: Quarantine 'Verse (aka Close Enough to Reality) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720804
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	Zoom Zoom Zoom (Make My Heart Go Boom Boom)

**Author's Note:**

> Since today is Patrick's 36th birthday, I wanted to write something about his birthday, and suddenly, this popped into my head. It's inspired by [Pete's interview this past week](https://purplestumpomatic.tumblr.com/post/616250923695636480/pete-wentz-interview-april-23-2020-highlights) where he said Patrick doesn't know what Zoom is — in the same interview, he also said that his daughter didn't care for everyone singing Happy Birthday to her over Zoom, so suddenly I had this little oneshot in my head about Pete trying to get Patrick on Zoom for birthday festivities.
> 
> I decided to make it take place in the same universe - aka this real life universe except where Peterick is real and these conversations are actually happening - as my other quarantine fic, so I created a little series for them. I'd like to write a follow-up oneshot to the first once the quarantine is over, so if I do, that'll go into the same series.

Pete was bordering on exasperation. “Come on, we’ve tried to explain it to you like, _a thousand_ times!”

“And I _still_ don’t get it!” Patrick groaned. “Are you sure it’s not that you’re explaining it badly?”

“Absolutely positive. I even had a professional explain it to you.”

He could just imagine Patrick pinching the bridge of his nose as he said, “Joe is not a professional.”

“No, you see, Joe _is_ a professional,” he tried to reason, “because Joe knows how to use technology. Like, so do I but you won’t listen to me, so that’s why I called him in. How else are we supposed to do band meetings, huh? We can’t FaceTime like four of us at a time — five if you count Bob, who probably should be there too. And what about Matt? And—”

“Okay, Pete, I get it.” Patrick didn’t sound like he got it.

See, the problem was that they had been stuck in quarantine for almost two months, and the band had barely been able to get anything done because Patrick refused to use Zoom. Patrick claimed he _didn’t know what Zoom was_ , and still didn’t seem to understand after everyone and their mothers had explained it to him. Frankly, Pete was starting to believe that Patrick was pretending, because sure, the guy wasn’t a huge internet guy – he never had been – but this was a little much. Patrick’s kids could probably work Zoom.

“Plus, you know, it’s kinda an _emergency_ today, and—”

“What about today is an emergency? It’s my birthday! Shouldn’t I be allowed to relax? Why are we meeting on my birthday?”

Patrick _really_ didn’t get it. “Dude, it’s _your birthday_.”

“Yes, we’ve established that.” Pete was almost starting to feel bad, considering Patrick sounded like he wanted to throttle Pete and today _was_ supposed to be _his_ day. “What I _don’t_ get is why we need to meet _today_ instead of letting me, oh, I don’t know, _relax?_ ”

“And you _will_ , but first we need to get you on Zoom.”

He could almost hear the resignation in Patrick’s brain before the “fine, just fucking…tell me what to do” came out of his mouth. Pete was kind enough not to point out that he _had_ been telling Patrick what to do already – he had, Joe had, he’s pretty sure even Bob called him up and tried to give it a go – because he knew that would just result in further argument and he _really_ didn’t want to argue today. Not for his sake, but for Patrick’s — he wanted Patrick’s special day to be special and that was _reliant_ on Patrick getting Zoom up and running.

“Okay,” Pete began, “have you got the desktop app downloaded?”

“Yes, I can manage _that_ much.”

“Hey, hey! No hostility on this end! I was just asking a question. Okay, you’ve got it downloaded, good.” Pete already had Zoom open on his computer, so double checked the app before giving the next instruction. “I sent you the email invite, did you get it?”

“The email invite? I don’t—”

“Check your email.”

He waited another minute for Patrick to check his email and open the link. “This is where it keeps fucking up!” the other man exclaimed. “I click on the link and it brings me to the site and just asks me to _download the app all over again!_ It won’t open the app and when I open the app there’s nothing there, I don’t see _you_ or an invite or—”

Pete couldn’t help smiling because _god_ , he loved that man — and he knew what the problem was and exactly how to fix it. “Okay, go back to the email.”

“I already told you, Pete, the link doesn’t _work_ —”

“Just do it.”

There was a moment of silence before Patrick asked, “so what do I do now?”

“You see the meeting ID? There should be a string of random numbers, not far below the link. I want you to copy the meeting ID, I know you know how to copy,” he could practically hear Patrick rolling his eyes and glaring at the screen, “and then click on Zoom again. Are you still following me?”

“Yes, Pete. I have copied the meeting ID and am back on the app. What next?”

“Okay, you see that ‘join’ button? Click on that. A window should have popped up, did the window pop up?” Pete continued without even waiting for Patrick to answer, but he heard an “mhmm” on the other end as he spoke anyway. “Paste the meeting ID and then click ‘join’ at the bottom. Another window should open and ask you for a password, so I want you to go back to the email – yes, _again_ – and copy the password.”

“Let me guess,” Patrick began, “you want me paste it?”

Pete grinned. “See, you are getting it!” The grumbling on the other end of the phone did not escape him. “And when it asks you about your webcam and computer audio, confirm everything.”

He could hear Patrick clicking and confirming over the phone. It took a minute before he could hear the confusion in Patrick’s voice asking, “wait, what’s going on? This looks like way too many people for a—”

**_“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”_ **

Pete hung up the phone because now that he could see Patrick’s face on Zoom, he didn’t need to continue the call. Joe started singing a round of Happy Birthday and Pete happily joined in, watching Patrick’s face go redder than a tomato. Everyone was here – the band, including Marie and the kids and Meredith and the dogs, Bob, Patrick’s mom, Patrick’s sister and her husband, his brother, his dad, _Pete’s_ parents – and Pete turned around quickly and motioned for the kids to join him so that the whole crew could join in on the festivities.

“Happy birthday!” Bronx and Saint screamed – probably far too loud but hey, they were _cute_ so it didn’t matter – when they reached the computer. Marvel didn’t seem to care, but well, after her own birthday about a week earlier, Pete wasn’t surprised.

Patrick was so red, but he was nonetheless smiling. “What is…did you organize a birthday party for me?”

“Of course I did, Pattycakes. You know I love you.”

Somehow Patrick got even redder. “This is…you didn’t have to, you know.”

Pete rolled his eyes, but before he could respond, Patrick’s sister said, “Oh, come on, Patrick. We _wanted_ to, and you know Pete would do anything for you.”

She wasn’t wrong — Pete would do anything to make Patrick happy. He had been trying for weeks to do whatever he could from home to make Patrick happy – it was hard when he wasn’t present and _with him_ , but at least Declan was pretty cooperative when Pete gave him requests – and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to make Patrick’s birthday special. Well, without breaking social distancing guidelines, of course. He couldn’t very well fly out there and give him fabulous birthday sex, but a virtual birthday party was the next best thing.

The younger – now thirty-six year old – man smiled sweetly, looking directly at Pete’s webcam on the app. “Yeah, I know,” he said softly.

God, Pete was so in love with him.

“And,” Pete began, “you’ll want to listen for the door. Your cake should arrive anytime in the next five minutes, if they’re on schedule.”

“You _bought me a cake too?_ ”

“Duh, I love you. And it’s not a birthday party without a cake!”

Everyone was chattering on to Patrick about birthday gifts – Patrick had already received and opened some, but he was issuing gazillions of thanks alongside “you really didn’t have to” – but Pete was just watching him. It had been a bit of an argument and Pete did regret causing Patrick even the slightest bit of stress on his birthday, but seeing the smile on the other man’s face as he interacted with his closest friends and family…that was worth it. Pete couldn’t help but just stare at him, smiling, probably looking every bit in love as he felt.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Chicago, Patrick smiled at Pete over Zoom and knew he couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, as a grad student, I have been using Zoom a lot during the quarantine. So, I have experienced exactly the issue that Patrick was experiencing in this fic, and Pete's explanation is simply how I work around it.
> 
> You can also follow me on social media! I'm **padawanryan** on [Tumblr](https://padawanryan.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/PadawanRyan), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/padawanryan/). ✌️
> 
> [(also check out this random birthday TikTok I made)](https://www.tiktok.com/@padawanryan/video/6820236649801321734)
> 
> (also this birthday drawing I did of Patrick on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_f1s3sF703/) and [Tumblr](https://padawanryan.tumblr.com/post/616582672607838208/i-drew-a-futct-era-patrick-in-honour-of-his))


End file.
